Time-lapse of cut paper fashions for PAPER BURLESQUE
This is a crazy compendium of my efforts for the last few weeks. Enjoy!
Shot with a GoPro Hero 3 Silver Edition. Assembled with iStopMotion and Final Cut Pro.
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Matt Hill
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Matt Hill
Exhibition opening – success!
I am sooo tired, but we pulled it off! So as not to recreate the whole thing, why not head over where to where I wrote it up to see photos and more
http://matthillart.com/matt-hill-photography/night-paper-exhibition-opening-night
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noravrublevska
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Matt Hill
Thanks, Nora! Now if only the sales roll in… (grin)
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Matt Hill
More paper fashions for PAPER BURLESQUE
The show this coming Sunday (one week!) is out being framed. I have been focusing on making the paper fashions for all of the seven performers, working like mad. These costumes are far more detailed than what I have previously made for NIGHT PAPER, include layers and other props. Huge challenge, but I am loving it.
So far, I am a little over halfway through and this coming Saturday is our Tech rehearsal. Soooo, I have to finish up some stuff! Short post, but I look forward to seeing many of of at both events and perhaps just one. Lemme know! I am very excited and am investing a lot of effort into these events…
Some iPhone snaps of the works in progress:
Paper mask I adore.
The outfit that goes with that mask
A paper top hat
And the postcards are in!
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Marty
Wish I could attend either of the two event. Nevertheless, congrats on all this happening and I’m sure it’ll be a great hit.
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Matt Hill
Sick, busy and rocking it: Paper Burlesque and Night Paper Exhibition.
Sorry, folks, I had the flu last week. Kicked my ass. But I have been very busy preparing for two major events I hope you can all come to see!!!
I did not design the posters/postcards – the artist at the Slipper Room did (John). I love them.
First off is my first photo exhibition in 20 years. the opening is Sunday May 5th from 7-9:30pm at the Slipper Room in the East Village on NYC. Free! Plus music and art!
Second, the live show I have been working on producing with Mabel:
Seven performers all dressed in even crazier paper creations, plus I will be photographing it during the live show. $15 tix online / $20 at the door – Sunday May 19th from 8pm-10pm (doors at 7pm)
This is insane and I love it. I hope you come and bring many friends. It may never happen again.
Here are some sneak-peeks at two of the outfits I made:
Yes, I made a paper brassiere (complete with tearaway pointy cups!)
![image[1]](http://www.WeekOfArt.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image1-1200x1200.jpeg)
![image[2]](http://www.WeekOfArt.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image2-1200x1200.jpeg)
Sorry this is so blurry… the fan on top is not part of the headdress… (the headdress is not complete yet…)
![image[3]](http://www.WeekOfArt.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image3-1200x1200.jpeg)
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One of the pair of paper fans unfolded
![image[6]](http://www.WeekOfArt.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/image6-1200x1200.jpeg)
folded.
This is truly a ridiculous amount of work, but I am thriving. Sorry I have not been commenting and posting as regularly as usual – this is the reason!
Cheers,
Matt
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Matt Hill
Two for one: Slipper Room Shoot & Some film scans
Apologies, folks! I missed last week, so I submit two posts in one week for y’all.
1: Here are some film scans from the 69th St Transfer Bridge, which I shot with Daniel O’Neil and Eric Ward. This was an over 10-year-old roll of ILFORD Pan F 50 ISO film that had lived in the center console of three cars I owned. It had been through hot and cold. Most exposure are 1 hour long at f/8.
And two from the shoot with Heather Whatever:
And second I submit to you my latest NIGHT PAPER shots from the Slipper Room this Saturday past – Eric Ward was my photo assistant and I love how they came out. Have not chose the winners yet, though…
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Marty
Matt…I like the textured look the expired film gives to your first three images. I’m liking in this set the second image the most. I would have like to have the terminal in the third image on the lower third of the frame to contrast its darkness more with the less darker buildings in the background and also give it to me a more balanced feel. With respect to your new installment, I’m liking the ones with the straight, bottom-up, perspective more than the ones from top-down perspective. The latter seem more static and less dynamic than the former and for me it seems that there’s more emphasis on extra lighting than the actor on stage with the latter. For the former, the winner for me is the third image. Just love how the subject is starting to “floating” off the stage. Overall, I do very much like the setting for this installment…very intimate which contrasts a bit with what you’ve shown in the past but definitely fits very well with your series so far. Awesome!!
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Sharon
Matt you’re awesome! Loving the where the slipper room images are going. I love the look of the theatre- it goes really great as an environment for the shoot. May I make a tiny suggestion? I think the convergence and the horizontal lens distortion is a tad distracting and I’m really wishing that the top of the stage was in the frame. Have you maybe thought of renting a tilt-shift for the slipper room shoots? These are already awesome, but I think maybe a tiltshift would really bring this shoot to the next level maximizing the beauty and epicness of the theatre. Just a thought! Looking fwd to the show!
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Matt Hill
Valley of Fire Part Deux
Gabe was show captain at WPPI this year and couldn’t make the run to the Valley of Fire, but I did get a chance to head out one night with Joseph Carey and John Faison from B&H gave me a ride out to the desert. Some stories are un-tellable, but needless to say, we had an epic time.
I walked JC and John through some NPy techniques and then got serious about making some images. Here are some picks! Read and see a timelapse video on my blog.
And this was not shot by me, but of me and directed by JC (Joseph Carey). Effing cool portrait, eh?
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Sharon
These are really epic. I love the perspective and the depth created by the wide angle and the direction of the star trails. The clarity is also amazing giving way to the beautiful details on the rocks. awesome!
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noravrublevska
Neat light painting under the rock formation in #2. Are you shooting wide? I’m asking because the stars seem a bit fuzzy and wondering if it’s because you are using shallow depth of field and the focus is on the rocks. Also, not sure if I ever told you but love your new (?) logo!
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Matt Hill
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Sharon
gorgeous! i love the second and third to last. I think the comp works really well and the clarity of the rocks is juxtaposed nicely with the blurry star trails.
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Matt Hill
69th St Transfer Bridge – Revisited – Night Photography
So the evening after I presented at the Apple Store in Grand Central Terminal, I went out shooting with Dan (from Apple) and Erik (a former Bannerman student) – both are the reason I got the awesome gig in the first place.
They usually specialize in Urbex (Urban Exploration Photography), and we all wanted to celebrate the event and collaborations by having a NPy shoot in NYC.
Gabe was going to come, but had to head upstate. I took them to the site where Gabe and I first went shooting together for Night Photography about five years ago. Coincidentally, thats about the same amount of time ago that Erik and Dan met each other and found a shared passion for Urbex.
I wrote a little more about it on my blog.
Without futher ado… some photos.
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Sharon
love the last two- so futuristic! the first image seems a tab busy to me with the tree, but i like how in the following images you shot it without the tree- love those too!
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Matt Hill
Night Paper #8: Falana Fox on the 56th Floor in Manhattan
Last night Mabel and I completed the eighth installment of NIGHT PAPER. Very excited. We moved this one indoors and had a great vantage from the 56th floor of a friend’s apartment in midtown Manhattan.
This is what it looks like fully illuminated from the scouting session:
And this is what we saw when there were no clouds – the FREEDOM TOWER! Alas, it was covered in clouds during our shoot last night.
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Matt Hill
Oh, and silly me, Sharon came to lend moral support
The shoot was pretty much underway by then so there wasn’t much assisting to do… Thanks, Sharon! -
Jeff
What really surprises me about my reaction to these is how much I love the one of her just in the chair. It seems like the whole series is also about the model capturing the sense of space and in that one I think she’s just being a part of the environment as much as on the end of an island or in the snow.
But I’m also enjoying the first one and the four-flash version. The former due to her sheer presence and gravity against the illuminated city and the latter for its clever capture of motion, time, and playfulness.
I do wish that curved shadow on the heater wasn’t in the lower right however. Was this a result of some flash bounce onto that round table in the middle of the room?
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Matt Hill
New Website
So in anticipation of all my upcoming public events this year, I decided it was finally time to switch from what I used to have:
photo.matthillart.com – my photography blog(site)
matthillart.com – my cut paper art blog(site)into one gallery-style website that includes both of my artistic passions:
MattHillArt.comComments appreciated.
Reasons:
- A first impression on the old sites was that of someone with an avocation or pastime, and that may have been the truth in the past, but I am now very serious about my projects, and desire that those that see them for the first time feel my intent by the effort I put into the website
- WordPress, although one of my favorite content management systems (CMS) ever, does not have the flexibility and simplicity I desire. I have a lifetime membership to graphpaperpress.com (got during a holiday special a few years back), and am somewhat of a WordPress power user, and it yet eludes me how to set up their best-looking themes. It also shames me in a way, since I have been using WordPress since version 2.
- Time is precious. Updates to WordPress, themes, plugins, the SQL database, and fixing bugs when they (inevitably) happen take away from the real reason for having the website – displaying my art.
- For the life of me, I just could not get it to do what I wanted and did not want to hire out for a custom solution.
So I went shopping. I tried many SaaS (software-as-a-solution) and chose Squarespace when I saw a few photographer websites that knocked my socks off. Unfortunately, I cannot find those URLs now, so I can’t share with you.
They have a ton of things going for them that match my set of requirements (in no particular order):
- no updates required – they maintain the sytem
- ridiculously easy page, menu item and gallery creation and destroying
- first-rate SEO features
- easy connection to social accounts, with choice for public display of icons
- great themes that are both adaptive (change based on screen resolution from mobile to HD pixel dimensions) and HTML 5 (very good for future compatibility + NO FLASH!!!)
- built-in blog feature that also can import EVERYTHING from your WordPress, comments and all.
- Facebook business page connection to display a gallery and contact page as tabs
- export feature should you want to get out of Squarespace sometime in the future
- iPad and iPhone apps to 1) manage and post to the blog part of your site, 2) display your portfolios offline, 3) write quick notes and publish to many services (including your own blog as a draft). The offline Gallery iPad app is AMAZING and very professional.
- Built-in analytics plus Google Analytics easy connection
- Really easy to use, great-design method for adding text, images, galleries, videos and much more to any page. No coding knowledge necessary. In fact, it’s better if you don’t have HTML urges.
- Awesome “focal point” feature that means you don’t have to make custom thumbnails ever again – they will choose best view of your image, no matter the crop, if you set the focal point. Great feature for thumbnail galleries and single images displayed amongst text – especially when you move form laptop to iPad to phone and see how they choose an awesome crop every time.
- Drag-and-Drop ordering of folders, pages, galleries and such. So easy it’s hard to believe.
- Strong, no-bullshit SEO features for photography/visual art. Such as renaming images, tagging categories and tags for them and setting image URL (all good things in Google’s eyes). All on top of normal things like being able to set page Title, Meta Description and URLs.
There is more, but so far I am pretty pleased. I put about 14 hours into structuring my site, exporting and uploading images, tagging and titling, and writing copy for project and standard pages like contact, exhibitions, workshops, etc.
They have a 14-day free trial if you are curious. I also looked at WIX, Photoshelter and some other less-heard of solutions. I found the other solutions, although not lacking in features, to be lacking in the aesthetic for which I was looking. This is simply elegant. After I decided how the themes looked and got under the hood, I was way, way, way impressed. No, I was delighted. I can thrive on this platform with minimal maintenance and look good doing it.
So like I said way above, thoughts are welcome. I am too close to this and I know some galleries have not the right stuff yet. It’s the best I could do with the time I have at present. I also finished my v1 version of the Apple store preso on NIGHT PAPER this weekend. Now I have to make a paper outfit for a shoot saturday night and a night photography presentation for the Saturday morning. Sigh… Let me know what you think!
Matt
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Matt Hill
Oh, and one more thing… I imported both blogs into this one, but only the photo blog is public now. I have to figure out how to move over other posts from one to the other inside Squarespace or re-create them and backdate them one by one…
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Sharon
Matt it looks awesome!! I love the new white/portfolio look to it. I especially like how you presented the night paper series in a grid- it works really well. It was really enjoyable to click through all of them as a series. I’m also redoing my website but think I’m going to go with Virb (but I’m trying square space also). Virb has no storage limit, if that is/may be an issue for you. According to mabel, I hear that we were both up until 3am friday night doing websites
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Matt Hill
Thanks, Sharon I know you know I know you know how I feel. (grin)
For a portfolio site, it’s not really a big deal. I’m never going to show all my photos there, just the ones that will attract the kind of people I wish to attract, nothing more. For online storage of thousands of photos, I have my Flickr account.
Hoping to get to your site soon to give you feedback. Great thing to do and a great learning experience.
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Marty
Thanks for sharing your experience in picking the service to host your website and the key points of ease to build on on your own. I think the site is fabulous and is well structured and organized. Definitely like the simple look. Would like to hear from you any cons that you’ve encountered so far or over time with this service.
I started with Zenfolio for my night images and still use them but it is very limited and not quite as flexible as I like. I do plan later to migrate out of that to find something elsed. I’m using Viewbook for the second site and I’m liking it more but there’s still some limits with it as well. The one you ended up choosing seems much more flexible and it’s definitely worth considering down the road. Again thanks for sharing that.
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Matt Hill
My pleasure
I actually like teaching and sharing Web stuff so I can spread around some hard-learns lessons from my day job – now flowing into my private life.Appreciate the kind words. I’m glad the elegance I sought is recognized. And making a site structure that is simple is very complicated, as you know form building your own.
Cons? Not having a real way to affect text in pages outside simple controls. But that is also an advantage should I decide to switch themes – it’s totally portable when they apply a new CSS to the existing copy.
If you want to see the backend of my site at the Salon, I’d be happy to demo how easy it is to use. Take it with a grain of salt… I have built around 30 websites (in collaboration with our design firm – I am not a designer) for MAC Group, started all the blogs and organized metric tons of data, so that’s my filter
So my easy may not be someone else’s – but then again I don;t want complicated for this – it’s one of the major assets of this CMS. It’s simple – like using an Apple computer (which I don’t even think about anymore…)
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Jeff
Wow.
Super elegant and seeing all those night paper shots in one space was really, really worth waiting for. And the layout you have here is super for presenting images, I love the simplicity and lack of clutter that presents images in a workmanlike flow. This is really showing off your craft very well. And I’m really enjoying the size of them, is it picking the image size based on my monitor settings? It’s just, well, working to sell you and your style.
And also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that shot of the crashed plane at night. Outfuckingstanding. Where’s your store so I can buy a copy?
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Matt Hill
Gracias, Jeff! I feel the same way. I had trouble presenting the project to anyone. That was the a-ha moment that made me realize that everyone else must be having the same problem
The site does indeed change the image size on the fly based on your screen resolution. Major selling point in these days where iPads are 1024×728, laptops are 1920×1080 and iPhones are 1136×640. You can’t just make an 800- or 1,000-pixel wide site anymore and ignore other people. They will leave in frustration!
Glad you like how the site works for you and not vice versa. Happy!
That crashed plane at night I shot with Gabe last year in the desert south of Las Vegas. Fun night! Yes, you can certainly buy a print (blush). Tell me what size and we can work it out – maybe an art swap for some Impossible shots
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Jeff
Yeah, the whole no-Flash iPad thing came about after the last time I worked on mine, all these recent site updates from everyone are really making me move that sort of thing up the list of things to work on this winter.
An art swap, who doesn’t love one of those? We’re working on the walls over the weekend, I’ll let you know how much space we have left.
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Sharon and 
Looks like a success! I’m glad to hear it went so well.